Kelsey Grammer and Bebe Neuwirth Reunite in Frasier First Look: ‘A Great Time Visiting Lilith and Frasier’ (Exclusive)

Whenever Kelsey Grammer and Bebe Neuwirth return to their iconic roles as Frasier Crane and Lilith Sternin, they deliver a comedic tour de force. Sparks fly. Sharp spines are traded. Antics ensue.

Expect no less from Grammer and Neuwirth, who reprise their roles as bougie psychiatrists in Frasier’s the latest episode of “Freddy’s Birthday,” airing Thursday on Paramount+. In it, Frasier and Lilith reluctantly gather at their son Freddy’s (Jack Cutmore-Scott) birthday party.

For Grammer and Neuwirth, it’s been nearly two decades since they appeared on screen together, when an episode of “Guns N’ Neuroses” aired during NBC’s eleventh and final season Frasier. But for Neuwirth, returning to the wonderfully icy role of Lilith after so long was a delight.

“It’s always a pleasure and a great time to visit Lilith and Frasier,” Neuwirth tells PEOPLE exclusively. “It’s so fun to be back in that wonderful character.”

‘Frasier’ Jack Cutmore-Scott, Bebe Neuwirth and Kelsey Grammer.

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In PEOPLE’s exclusive debut of the reunion, Frasier and his longtime friend Alan (Nicholas Lyndhurst) walk into one of their regular get-togethers. While discussing the merits of the modern production of Italian opera Turandot — “They turned the Imperial Palace into a Costco in Chicopee!” Frasier Complains — Frasier spies Freddy having a drink with a mysterious woman at a nearby table.

“That’s strange. Frederick told me he had plans tonight when I invited him to the opera,” says Frasier. “I didn’t realize it was a date.”

“Oh, I was the fallback, wasn’t I?” Alan retorts. “Fine. I’ll just write it in our friendship book – red.”

“Sly dog, obviously he switched,” Frasier continues. “Left my old man for an evening with a charming ingénue. Let’s go say ‘hello’.”

It turns out that Freddy’s companion is none other than Lilith. “Frederick, you old dog. Who is this lovely…snake??” Frasier asks, confused.

Kelsey Grammer, Bebe Neuwirth and Jack Cutmore-Scott in ‘Frasier’.

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“Hello, Frasier,” she says.

“Lilith. Dear God. Who looked in the mirror and said your name three times?” he answers.

“Frasier, I almost didn’t recognize you. I’m used to seeing you stuck between commercials for personal injury attorneys and walk-in tubs,” Lilith deadpanned. “Just kidding. I’ve never seen your television show.”

Frasier fires back with a smart punch of his own. “It’s nice to see you, but if you’re here, who’s bothering the kids you’ve lured into your gingerbread house?” he says.

“Alright, you crazy kids,” Freddy says uneasily as he downs his beer and the clip ends.

Kelsey Grammer and Bebe Neuwirth in ‘Frasier’ by Paramount +.

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Kelsey Grammer breaks down in tears as she tells the studio audience about her ‘love’ for Frasier (Exclusive)

In the Paramount+ revival Frasier, an acclaimed psychiatrist moves from Seattle back to Boston and takes a teaching job to be closer to his grown son, Freddy. Lilith is also not the first time in Boston. Frasier and the Ice Doctor share a long and complicated history that spans nearly 30 years and began in the town that “never gets old.”

The two first met on an awkward date during the fourth season of the hit NBC sitcom Cheers in the episode “Second Time Around”. Not at all impressed when Frasier takes her to Cheers for drinks, she almost jumps at the chance to go back to the hospital when her pager goes off.

“With any luck, it will be one of my manic depressives, and the evening will get better,” she says.

Not until the season 5 episode “Abnormal Psychology”, after the two find themselves paired on a talk show Psychology this week wherein it becomes a funny, sexually suggestive discussion where Frasier and Lilith finally give in to their carnal desires for each other.

After Lilith lets her hair down on Cheers, the good doctor activates. “I’m going to kiss you,” Frasier says. “I will kiss you hard, and I will kiss you long. But make no mistake. I will kiss you.”

Kelsey Grammer and Bebe Neuwirth on ‘Cheers’.

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The couple eventually married, and after giving birth in Cheers, Lilith gives birth to Freddy, or Frederick, in the back seat of a taxi during the Season 8 episode “The Stork Brings a Crane”.

But their marriage was not meant to last. During the episode “Teaching with the Enemy” in Cheers’ in the eleventh and final season, Lilith admits to Frasier that in a “moment of utter weakness” she cheated on him with one of her colleagues, Dr. Louis Pascal.

Although Frasier forgives Lilith, the couple divorce sometime between Frasier’s move from Boston to Seattle, setting the stage for many memorable scenes between the pair, who now go back and forth between loving and hating each other.

Lilith makes its first reappearance on NBC Frasier in the first season episode “The Show Where Lilith Comes Back.” As Frasier gives advice to Hank, a caller struggling with his weight, on his radio show, Roz (Peri Gilpin) informs him that there is “someone on Line 1 who disagrees” with Frasier’s advice.

The exes later reconnect and sleep together, and while Frasier admits to Lilith that he feels it was a “mistake,” he adds over breakfast the morning after that she’s always been “the most exciting lover” he’s ever had.

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In the Season 10 episode “Lilith Needs a Favor,” Lilith calls Frasier for, well, a favor: a sample of his sperm so she can “complete her life” and give Freddy a sibling. Frasier’s not-so-secretly hoping for a spin in the hay, but Lilith argues that going to the doctor’s office and freezing his sperm is the more practical route because she’d have to fly back and forth to Seattle when she ovulates.

At the fertility clinic, Frasier expresses his doubts. Their second child might inherit all their “flaws” instead of their “strengths”. “We could create a real nightmare,” he adds, before realizing that helping Lilith in this situation isn’t “right” and changing his mind.

Lilith most recently appeared in Frasier’s life on NBC’s “Guns N’ Neuroses” Season 11 Frasier. While in town for a one-day conference, Lilith is unwittingly “set up” on a blind date with Frasier by one of her colleagues. The two exes have drinks in her hotel room, cancel dates, not realizing the truth, and end up successfully counseling the couple fighting in the next room.

Kelsey Grammer and Bebe Neuwirth in ‘Frasier’. Paul Drinkwater/NBCU Photo Bank/NBCUniversal via Getty Images via Getty

Frasier and Lilith fall asleep on the couch and as they rush to get ready the next morning – Lilith will catch a flight in an hour and a half, Frasier will return home – they admit to each other that the dinner together the night before was “lovely”. In that moment, Frasier allows himself to wonder what would have happened if they had never met.

“We are exactly the kind of people that someone could set up a blind date with,” he says with a laugh and adds: “What would we think of each other if we were just now meeting for the first time?”

“But if we hadn’t met, we’d be different people now,” she claims, before the two start talking about how life would be different.

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“We have our luggage, don’t we?” he says at the door. “But sometimes that’s what makes the journey so interesting.”

“The past moves forward with one hand, and holds us back with the other,” says Lilith.

They hug and wish the other “goodbye”, before exchanging long glances at each other and the credits roll.

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Frasier airs Thursdays on Paramount+.

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Source: HIS Education